| EXPLORE | SPACE
To see the total eclipse of
1937, an American expedi-
tion set up camp on barren
Canton Island. The team’s
presence, alongside a rival
viewing party, provoked a
tug-of-war for the Pacific
island, which the Christian
Science Monitor described
as ideal “for somebody who
doesn’t care about shade
or drinking water, and who
likes solitude.”
“ The weather is absolutely perfect,”
announced an NBC broadcaster from
an uninhabited Pacific atoll on June 8,
1937. Minutes later the moon blocked
the sun—beginning what reports called
the longest total eclipse in 1,238 years.
Isolated Canton Island was the best
place to observe the eclipse’s seven-
minute arc across the sky, and a National
Geographic–U.S. Navy expedition had
hauled 22,000 pounds of equipment from
Washington, D.C., to Honolulu and then
1,900 miles into the Pacific Ocean to be
there. The 13-person team of scientists and
photographers marked their mission’s
success with a large concrete monument
embedded with two American flags.
Nearby, a scientific expedition sponsored
by Britain displayed the Union Jack.
The friendly rivalry soon became a
diplomatic issue. Canton had no shade
or permanent drinking water, but it was
ECLIPSED BY WAR
By Nina Strochlic
PHOTOS: RICHARD H. STEWART (TOP); F. K . RICHTMYER (ABOVE);
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC CREATIVE (BOTH)
perfectly situated for refueling planes
between Hawaii and Australia. In Au-
gust, Britain sent two officials to set up
a base and asked the United States to
remove its marker. Instead, President
Franklin Roosevelt claimed the island
and dispatched three Hawaiian “colo-
nists” to live there.
As World War II loomed, Japan viewed
Britain’s tolerance of the encroachment
“as evidence of Anglo-American co-
operation,” according to media reports.
Sure enough, the U.S. and U.K. did agree
to control the island jointly and to pre-
vent the Japanese from using it. The U.S.
military built an airstrip and installed
over a thousand men. Though the Jap-
anese occasionally staged submarine
and bomber attacks, Canton survived
the war largely unscathed.
The U.S. finally left the island in 1976.
Three years later Canton joined the
Republic of Kiribati and was renamed
Kanton. A few years ago only two dozen
people remained. Soon the island might
return to its uninhabited state.